COVID Vaccines Now Available To All Californians Age 16 And Over
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – All California residents age 16 and older became eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine Thursday, but supply questions still remain after state and federal officials halted administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over a blood clot issue.
Thousands of Angelenos were scrambling to get vaccine appointments with the newly expanded eligibility. At the L.A. County-run Forum vaccine site in Inglewood, all 2,700 appointments Thursday were fully booked.
"I already had my first shot, looking forward to being with my family, going to Disneyland, I miss that," vaccine recipient Lisa Morris told CBSLA.
"I feel like it's a long time coming and I am excited to finally get this going and eventually get my second dose," said Brianna Johnson.
As of Wednesday, nearly 5.4 million vaccine doses have been administered in Los Angeles County, including more than 1.9 million people who have received second doses and are fully vaccinated. Prior to halting the distribution of the J&J vaccine, there were an estimated 500,000 total doses available this week between L.A. city and county-run sites, and non-county and city providers, such as pharmacies, who receive direct allocations from the state and federal governments.
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"Twenty-three-plus million doses of vaccines have been administered in this state," Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters Wednesday. "That's larger than all but six nations in the world. We lead the nation last week, in terms of positivity rate in America, among the lowest case rates in America, we are making tremendous progress, but we're not there yet. The mission is not yet accomplished, and we cannot put down our guard, we cannot put down our masks."
Federal health officials recommended a pause in the use of the J&J vaccine Tuesday, following reports of six women across the country developing potentially dangerous blood clots within two weeks of being vaccinated. One of the women died.
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L.A. County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said about 230,000 Johnson & Johnson doses have been administered at "county-controlled" vaccination sites to date, and none of the severe blood clot cases have occurred locally. There were roughly 19,600 appointments in the county for the J&J vaccine this week, and as of Wednesday, 13,670 of them have been switched to either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccination, Ferrer said.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
